LAHORE: A Lahore High Court larger bench would hear on Friday (today) petitions by jailed former prime minister Imran Khan against multiple actions of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) including his five-year disqualification in Toshakhana case and cancellation of PTI`s party polls held last year.

The bench is headed by Justice Shahid Bilal Hassan and comprises Justice Shams Mahmood Mirza, Justice Shahid Karim, Justice Shehram Sarwar Chaudhry and Justice Jawad Hassan.

Last week, a senior judge of the high court had referred the petitions of Imran Khan to the larger bench as it already seized an identical matter relating to the ECP proceedings against the former chairman of the PTI.

In the petitions, filed through Barrister Senator Syed Ali Zafar, Mr Khan said the ECP, despite his clear explanations for Toshakhana gifts, illegally de-seated him as an MNA from Mianwali’s NA-95 constituency and directed that a complaint be filed against him under the Elections Act 2017.

Ex-PM challenges disqualification in Toshakhana, party poll cancellation cases

He said the ECP also started proceedings to remove him as PTI chairman, though he secured a stay order from the high court.

Alleging malice and ulterior motives, Mr Khan criticised the ECP for instigating baseless legal actions against him under sections 167 and 173 of the Elections Act 2017 before a session court in Islamabad.

Mr Khan said that general elections are slated to be held on Feb 8, but the ECP denied his fundamental right to contest polls.

He also accused the ECP of issuing another illegal order on Oct 23, directing the PTI to hold party elections in 20 days.

The former premier said he had the right to contest the general and intra-party elections but an attempt was made to stop him from being the PTI chairman through an ‘illegal’ notification.

Mr Khan asked the court to set aside his disqualification so that he could contest the upcoming general elections.

He also challenged the ECP order instructing the PTI to hold fresh intra-party polls.

He asked the LHC to declare that the intra-party elections conducted on June 10, 2022, were valid by the party`s constitution.

The larger bench would also hear a petition of Khan against the ECP proceedings to debar him from heading his party.

In this case, the court had restrained the ECP from taking adverse action against Khan.

The ECP started the proceedings against Khan after disqualifying him from his Mianwali seat in the Toshakhana reference.

PCB: The Lahore High Court on Thursday suspended the termination of Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) director media & communications Sami Burney.

Advocate Taffazul Haider Rizvi filed a petition on behalf of Burney and argued before the court that the present management committee of the PCB was appointed for an interim period with limited powers.

He alleged that Zaka Ashraf, the chairman of the committee, had been acting in a dictatorial manner by appointing its favourites and removing or pressurising the board’s employees to resign.

He pointed out that the respondent despite being not qualified to contest election for the office of the PCB chairman hired over 60 new employees on hefty salaries.

He said the petitioner also became a target of the respondent chairman’s arbitrariness and was asked to resign ‘voluntarily’.

The counsel said the respondent terminated the petitioner on Dec 5 after he refused to bow before the respondent chairman’s pressure.

He argued that the interim management committee of the PCB was completely bereft of any power to appoint or terminate any employee. He asked the court to set aside the impugned termination of the petitioner for being unlawful.

Justice Abid Hussain Chattha suspended the impugned notification of the petitioner’s termination and sought a reply from the PCB by second week of January 2024.

Published in Dawn, December 15th, 2023